1. Field
Embodiments relate to a robot system which controls docking of a robot with a charging station and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, robots are machines which perform motions similar to humans and thus provide various conveniences to humans, and development of robots is increasing. These robots include industrial robots, household robots, service robots and medical robots according to kinds of robots. A cleaning robot is a typical example of a household robot.
The cleaning robot performs cleaning while traveling in a target region to be cleaned when cleaning instructions are received from a user or at a set cleaning time. Further, the cleaning robot docks with a charging station to charge a battery with power supplied from the charging station when cleaning has been completed or voltage of the battery falls below a reference voltage.
According to one method of performing docking of the cleaning robot with the charging station, the cleaning robot moves along a wall surface and then rotates and travels along a set route when the charging station is detected, thereby docking with the charging station. Since the cleaning robot may rotate one time along the wall surface, as needed, this method is disadvantageous in that, considering the low voltage of the battery, the robot needs to dock with the charging station as quickly as possible.
According to another method of performing docking of the cleaning robot with the charging station, the charging station is attached to a target region to be cleaned by a beacon and the cleaning robot recognizes the beacon using a camera and recognizes a distance from the charging station using the recognized data, thereby docking with the charging station. However, in this case, if luminance of lighting in the target region is changed or an object having a shape similar to that of the beacon is recognized, the cleaning robot may not recognize the position of the charging station. Further, since an expensive camera needs to be attached to the cleaning robot, the production cost of the cleaning robot is raised.
According to a further method of performing docking of the cleaning robot with the charging station, left and right infrared emission units are installed on the charging station to emit infrared rays at all times, the position of the charging station is judged based on an amount of light incident upon the left and right infrared emission units when an infrared ray signal from the charging station is detected during docking, and the cleaning robot moves based on a result of the judgment, thereby docking with the charging station.
In this case, the charging station emits infrared rays at all times and thus power consumption is raised. Further, if power is not supplied from the charging station to the cleaning robot due to a contact failure between terminals although the cleaning robot docks with the charging station, the cleaning robot may judge that docking is not achieved and thus continuously push the charging station forwards in an attempt to dock with the charging station.